Soldiers, 1944

Asked in a 2001 interview with Mollie Grob to identify her most treasured work, Thayer replied: “During World War II, I went out nightly to the Officers’ Club in Boston to do pencil drawings of the young men, which I gave to them. I think they meant a lot to them. The soldiers came from all over the country, passing through Boston on their way to being shipped out. The poignancy of those young men who were going to war, who might never see the year out, had something to do with those drawings... Some of these I feel came out as well as anything I’ve ever done.”